When things don't go as planned, just as Qi Xuansu's flying boat always crashes, Qi Xuansu always encounters accidents when he visits Hu Songting.
As soon as he arrived at Hu Songting's side, a message came from Tianfu Palace, saying that a representative of the West Posas Island Company wanted to see the chief deputy palace master.
Speaking of this representative, this is not the first time Qi Xuansu has dealt with him. However, the last time he dealt with him was not a direct deal, but an indirect deal, not in Shenglong Mansion, but in Fenglinzhou.
This representative gentleman’s name is Maginot, a great duke in the West. During the Fenglinzhou War, he went to Xiujing to see Qingwei Zhenren, the real person in charge of the army, because of the issue of prisoners of war. Although Qingwei Zhenren did not see him
, but still appointed Li Tiangang, the second deputy head of Fenglinzhou Taoist Palace, to receive him on his behalf.
It can be seen from this that the status of the Grand Duke of Maginot is quite high. He believed that he was qualified to meet Master Qingwei. Even if Master Qingwei did not want to see him, he sent a second deputy palace master instead.
In other words, Master Qingwei believes that the grand duke is almost at the same level as the second deputy palace master. Now he wants to meet with people from the Taoist palace, and Xu Jiaorong is not in the Lion City. Only Qi Xuansu is most suitable to come forward in person. Xie Jiaofeng is
It's inappropriate, and besides, with Xie Jiaofeng's slippery temperament, even if it's appropriate, he won't rush forward.
Qi Xuansu had some knowledge of Maginot. One year before the fall of the Wei Dynasty, the Xibasazhou Company was formally established. Its original full name was "Lun Merchant's Trading Company in Xibosuzhou". It was founded by
It consists of a group of influential businessmen who received a fifteen-year trade patent charter for Western Borneo from the Rune royal family in 1600 AD. The company has a total of 125 shareholders and funds.
for eighty thousand gold crowns.
Over the next one hundred years, the West Borneo Company continued to grow and develop, and soon transformed from a trading company into a separatist force, or even a country. The composition of its shareholders also became more and more complex. The original businessmen
Most of them were squeezed out, and the new shareholders were mostly big businessmen, big nobles, big workshop owners, a small number of princes from West Borneo, and the priests from the Holy See. Soon, the priests and nobles took complete control of the West Borneo Company, and
Driven by these priests and nobles, Western Borneo received some assistance in governance and military functions.
According to the Western company system, the highest decision-making level is the board of directors, which is composed of directors. It is in charge of company affairs internally and represents the company's operating decision-making body externally. It is elected by the shareholders' meeting. Generally speaking, elections are held every three years.
There are now thirteen members on the board of directors of the West Posas Island Company. White, who once secretly funded the Zunhu Faction in Fenglinzhou, is one of the directors, and Maginot is also one of the directors. However, these two people still have
The difference is that White is an independent director and Maginot is an executive director.
Executive directors are the opposite of non-executive directors.
The so-called executive director participates in the management of the company as a director.
Independent directors have no relationship with the company and can independently express their own views and opinions on the company's board of directors decisions, including some major issues. Their status is relatively aloof and will not be too involved by the interests of internal factions.
Generally speaking, the number of independent directors cannot be less than one-third of the total number of board members.
As a Holy See priest, White mainly performs various duties related to the Holy See. Naturally, he cannot be deeply involved in the operation and management of the West Borneo Company. Therefore, he is an independent director and generally plays a supervisory role.
As a great aristocrat, Maginot's primary goal is to make money. In addition to investing heavily, he is also personally involved in operation and management, so he is the executive director.
The behavior of the two people in Fenglin Island also reflects the difference in their identities. White funded the Zunhu Faction, with the apostle Toronus behind him, and was obviously executing the Holy Court's strategy. While Maginot wanted to carry out the slave trade,
When purchasing prisoners of war from Fenglinzhou, he did not care about the outcome of the war in Fenglinzhou. He was obviously negotiating business from the standpoint of the West Posuzhou Company.
However, this does not mean that Maginot will not obey the instructions of the Holy Court. It can only be said that there is a different division of responsibilities between these directors.
In addition, although the decision-making of the board of directors is one person, one vote, including the chairman of the board of directors, who has only one vote, the board of directors is determined by the shareholders' meeting, and many directors are even concurrently served by shareholders themselves. The chairman of the board of directors is generally concurrently served by the largest shareholder.
According to the procedures, the shareholders' meeting is the highest authority of the company, and the board of directors is the highest executive body. The resolution of the shareholders' meeting is not based on head count, but a majority vote of capital, that is, the person who has invested more will bear the responsibility.
The risk is greater, so the weight of the words is heavier, that is, the shareholders will vote according to the shareholding ratio, and more than half of the shareholding ratio will have absolute control of the company.
Maginot's identity is very special. He is a shareholder, and he holds a high shareholding ratio. He is not the largest shareholder, but he is also one of the major shareholders. He is also the executive director, and the head of the West Borneo Company in Nanyang and Fenglinzhou.
The highest decision-maker, so his status is higher than that of ordinary people
General directors should not be compared to ordinary deputy palace masters, but should be compared to the level of chief or second-in-command.
Qi Xuansu had no intention of seeing it and asked fellow Taoists from the branch hall of the temple to meet him on his behalf. However, considering the impact and Master Qingwei's attitude of attaching great importance to this person, he had to change his schedule temporarily and go to see the director first.
His Excellency the Duke.
In fact, the power of seeing or not seeing is completely in the hands of Qi Xuansu. It's not that Qi Xuansu has to see. It's just that Qi Xuansu also wants to use Maginot, a big shot in the Western world, to find out what's going on in the Holy Court. After all, he also has other responsibilities on his shoulders.
One mission is to deal with matters related to the Holy Court.
Trade itself is a kind of exchange. You come and go, and the penetration that comes with trade exchanges is always unavoidable, so weeding needs to be done regularly. As for how to weed weeds without scaring away ordinary businessmen or affecting normal trade, it is a test of methods.
Method.
It's just that after Qi Xuansu arrived in Borneo, the Holy Court did not take much action. Even when Chen Shuhua made a big fuss in Shenglong Mansion, the Holy Court did not come forward. Of course, it is not ruled out that the situation changed too quickly and the Holy Court failed to react. After all,
As the person involved, the Taoist Mansion almost didn't react. In addition, the Shenglong Mansion was in a special location, and the Holy Court's power was relatively weak, so it was powerless to participate.
The Lion City is different. This is the most developed place in Southeast Asia. The foreign population is even equal to the local population. Therefore, the Lion City is a place seriously penetrated by the Holy Court. Many people from the Holy Court can do business under the banner of doing business.
Coming to the Lion City openly, the situation is more complicated.
Now, the Holy Court finally couldn't hold back and jumped out.
This will undoubtedly bring some variables to the situation.
After Qi Xuansu returned to Tianfu Palace, he left Xiao Yin to play alone and took Chen Jianchou to see the director.
Chen Jianqiu is actually a very talented person. He is proficient in five languages. In addition to the Mandarin of the Central Plains and the Borneo dialect, there are also Runeese, Ibia, and the Borneo dialect. He and Chen Jianqiu can definitely speak Runeese.
Normal communication is a huge plus because it can also act as a translator when necessary.
However, after meeting Maginot, Qi Xuansu realized that it was unnecessary. As the top decision-maker of the West Borneo Company in half of the Eastern world, Maginot was naturally proficient in the Central Plains Mandarin, and his accent was authentic, and he was familiar with the various wording habits of the Central Plains people.
There is absolutely no weird feeling like ordinary Westerners speaking in Chinese Mandarin. If you close your eyes and listen, you will still think that a Central Plains person is speaking.
"Qi Zhenren, to use the Chinese dialect, I have admired him for a long time, but I just met him once." Maginot was arranged in a Western-style living room. Maginot, who was originally sitting on the sofa, saw Qi Xuansu in front of his daughter.
After entering the living room under the guidance of the Taoist priest, he immediately stood up and enthusiastically gave Qi Xuansu a hug.
Qi Xuansu declined this overly intimate Western etiquette and said, "I have heard about Mr. Maginot's reputation as early as when I was in Fenglinzhou. That time, Li Cixi of Fenglinzhou Taoist Office received Ma Qinuo."
Mr. Chino."
"By the way, Master Qi was also serving under Master Qingwei at that time." Maginot suddenly said, "It's just that Master Qi at that time was not a real person."
Qi Xuansu smiled and said, "That's why I can't get into Mr. Maginot's eyes."
"Master Qi is making fun of me." Maginot also laughed and said, "I am making fun of me for not recognizing the real person in front of me."
"I don't mean that." Qi Xuansu waved his hand and said, "At that time, I didn't expect that I could become a second-grade Taiyi Taoist priest in such a short period of time. It can be said to be a coincidence, or it can be said to be a chance meeting. There are no heroes.
It’s just to make Shuzi famous.”
Maginot had a smile unique to Western aristocrats. His eyes were cold and calm, but the lower half of his face was very enthusiastic. "Qi Zhenren is too modest. There is an old saying in the Central Plains that heroes emerge from youth. From the length of a hundred years,
From the looks of it, Master Qi is still a young man now."
Maginot's words should be flattering, but Qi Xuansu is not very happy, because now many people are very critical of his age, which is nothing more than his lack of ability to do things, and Maginot wants to treat Qi Xuansu as a young man.
After all, Qi Xuansu has no interest in Hedong in the past thirty years.
So Qi Xuansu said, "There is an old saying in the Central Plains, which is: Don't bully a young man into being poor. If I call him poor now, someone should scold me. So this young man should just be inappropriate."
Maginot also realized that his flattery might have been slapped on the horse's hooves, so he skipped the topic, "Anyway, Master Qi is the youngest official second-grade Taiyi Taoist priest in the entire Eastern world."
Qi Xuansu made a gesture to sit down, "Mr. Maginot, let's sit down and talk."
After the two of them sat down, Qi Xuansu said, "Mr. Maginot is a man with many things to do. He is anxious to see me this time. He won't be drinking tea with me. You might as well say so."
Maginot slowly suppressed his smile and said seriously, "I heard that the Taoist government plans to seize the Nanyang United Trading Company. Is there such a thing?"